1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to sofa type furniture and more particularly to a sofa which may be converted into a bed by means of retractable telescoping sections.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The increasing scarsity of living space and raw materials in modern times has placed increasing demands on more efficient utilization of utensils used by man. One approach to the conservation of resources problem has been to design man's living necessities in such a way that they may be used for more than one purpose. This principle has been applied in particular to furniture used by apartment dwellers who may find that crowded living conditions seriously interfer with their use of sleeping and sitting apparatus, particularly beds, sofas, etc. For example, residents of housing with minimal actual living area may find that there exists insufficient floor space to include both a bed and sofa. These persons have found it worthwhile to invest in furniture which can be used in a dual capacity, i.e., for sitting during the day and as a bed during the night. Many of these types of devices are known in the prior art and operate in various types of extensible, telescopic and foldable modes.
Unfortunately, many of these so-called sofa beds have suffered from drawbacks which have reduced their usefulness. For example, some of the convertible sofa beds contain complex mechanical mechanisms requiring frequent and expensive maintenance. Other types of sofa beds, because of the specific way in which the conversion takes place, may not be used in close proximity to other furniture, or may interfer with the particular room geometry. Still other types of sofa beds require vertical lifting of heavy retractable sections thereby precluding their use by persons unable to perform heavy lifting.
Individuals of greater than average height have also found conventional sofa beds uncomfortable for sleeping due to the limited length of the units necessitated by the nature of the folding or retracting mechanism employed. Furthermore, there has not been available heretofor an acceptable means for extending the sleeping length of an otherwise too short sofa bed.
Conventional sofa beds are generally constructed in single piece units which cannot be disassembled or "knocked-down" for shipment, resulting in higher transportation costs and waste of valuable carrier resources.
Another drawback to present convertible sleeping apparatus involves storage of the mattress while the apparatus is not being used as a bed. The problems associated with the storing of the mattress have resulted in sofa bed designs employing multiple piece mattresses or complicated folding arrangements for single piece mattresses. None of these approaches has proved entirely satisfactory. To overcome these drawbacks, the present invention provides a convertible sofa bed which may be used in crowded quarters, whose conversion is linear requiring minimal lifting, which provides means for extending the length of the sofa bed when used as a bed, which utilizes a self-stored single piece mattress, and which may be disassembled for ease of shipment.